Indeed, the numbers are tanking for both major games in this space, and hard, although analyst Michael Pachter says they should level off at a "healthy" $500 million/year.

Reports Reuters, the recently released and much ballyhooed The Beatles game moved 800,000 units to date, which is 200,000 short of what analysts expected it would sell. Guitar Hero 5, on the other hand, sold just 500,000 this year. The number pales in comparison to the 1.4 million pieces of plastic Guitar Hero III managed to sell during its first month on store shelves. DJ Hero, the latest in the pseudo-instrument series, also disappointed.

Come to think of it, that drum set, when viewed the right way, kind of reminds me of sad face. How apt. And how timely! Mark's latest shooting challenge is all about finding faces in strange places.

In other news, landfills report they'll be very busy in 2010. [Reuters via CrunchGear]

Even More Star Trek Online Screens
Confession: I downloaded these off Atari's press site, just for my own personal "use."

Star Trek Online Preview: Ignoring Regulation
Btw, Jason Chen and I are also very actively begging our way into a press beta. Wish us luck.

LEGO Rock Band Review: Redefining The Rock Block
Spoiler: It's like every other Rock Band title, but with LEGO.

Avatar: The Navi Side Of The Story
Which will lose more money, the movie or the game?

StarCraft II Expansions, Diablo III Coming in "Next Few Years"
Just like I predicted, Diablo III won't be here until 2011...at the earliest. Being right can suck.

Diabloriffic Torchlight Coming To Retail
So since Diablo III will take so long, feel free to sleep around a bit.

Modern Warfare 2 Sells Nearly Five Million Copies In A Day
That's a launch of over $300 million in revenue.

Borderlands Sequel A "No-Brainer"
My siren is level 28. Frucci's hunter is like level bajillion.

They Made The Wii Bowling Ball, And They're Not Done Yet
There's plenty more plastic crap where that came from!

Oh...and as a little bonus, the worst lines in the history of video games:

[Today's Big Thing]

The musical cosmos have been tilted out of balance for quite a while now, violently thrown askew sometime between when the first fake guitar rolled off an assembly line in China and the first time a child recognized the Beatles on the radio as "that song from my Xbox!" Today, as we watch a young lady with a flute totally pass for a Very Serious Yelling Man with a facial tattoo, it feels like, in some small way, order has been restored. [Neatorama via Kotaku]

Here's how it works in a nutshell:

- light sensors read the falling notes (brightness set to max)
- light data is sent to an Arduino Mega, which is monitoring for data spikes
- The Arduino filters the data, and sets a threshold for "on" and "off"
- an "on" means the tiny robot finger presses the screen
- the capacitive touchscreen requires a human touch to operate, so a rudimentary Xacto knife/copper wire workaround was created. Simply hold the knife while the robot plays, and the current is enough to trick the iPhone

The code is available for download, should you want to help the robots spread their lifeless 87% accuracy music around the globe. Update: You're right, eagle-eyed commenters. The result is in fact 87%. We're safe! [OhBowz via Boing Boing]

This isn't to say the so-called Polk HitMaster doesn't have a bunch of extra features, which it does. There's 60 watts packed in the unit's 13-lb. frame; a pair of 2.2x5.5-inch horns; and two 1-in. tweeters. Top it all off with a 6.5-in. sub and you have yourself an impressive faux stage monitor. Oh, and there's also iPod support should you want to listen to some real musicians.

Arrives in early 2010 for $100. [Polk Hot Hardware via Engadget]

First things first: you can't plug your guitar into this. It's not a guitar amp, and it doesn't have a 1/4-inch input, and the 6.5-inch speaker simply isn't designed for it. It does have stereo analog inputs, meaning it'll hook right up to your game console, giving your rhythm game of choice more power, and more importantly better sound resolution.

At first glance the concept is patently ridiculous—the line between an amp and a fake amp is much thinner than between a guitar and a fake guitar, and you can buy an amp for this much—but rhythm games are essentially social, and built-in TV speakers are uniformly terrible, so having a portable "amp" to bring to parties isn't actually such a terrible idea. [Altec Lansing]

Rock Band suggests that you play with your thumbs on the bottom of the phone, supporting the weight of the phone by gripping it at the base. People with normal-sized hands will find the position cramp-inducing, but bearable. I would recommend that you lay the top of the phone on the edge of your desk to support some of the weight and give you more freedom to lift your thumbs up to move around without worrying about dropping your phone, but that's just me.

The guitar/bass gameplay is essentially a port of the Rock Band you know from previous Rock Band and Guitar Hero games, and what you're familiar with if you've played the Tap Tap games on your iPhone. The singing is unfortunately NOT singing, and you'll have to tap one of the four pedals on the side to "sing". The drums are just like drums, and just like the guitar gameplay, so that's not that surprising. So it's only the singing that's kind of a disappointment.

For $10, it's not that bad of a game, even though the limitations of the control scheme put a hard barrier on how difficult the songs can be. Even with hammer-ons and pull-offs in place, the guitar difficulty can never really progress beyond having you play with two thumbs at once and moving one thumb around really fast.

There is multiplayer, but only over Bluetooth and only locally (obviously). I didn't test this out.

Your other consideration is that the base game is 158MB already, and each song comes somewhere between 10-20MB each. If you have a smaller device, you might have to delete some stuff to fit this. It would be nice if buying a song also added an iTunes version of the song to your library, but that's pretty unlikely. And although the game ships with 20 songs, only 15 are available at the start, and you'll have to unlock the other five. [iTunes]

There's also a solo mode, of course. And additional tracks available to buy from artists like Foo Fighters, Devo, Smashing Pumpkins, and Leny Kravitz. Sweet! [iTunes Store]

"Attack" – 30 Seconds To Mars
"Girls Not Grey" – AFI
"Move Along" – All American Rejects
"Sabotage" – Beastie Boys
"All The Small Things" – Blink-182
"Hanging on the Telephone" – Blondie
"Learn To Fly" – Foo Fighters
"Everlong" – Foo Fighters
"Bad to The Bone" – George Thorogood & the Destroyers
"Hymn 43″ – Jethro Tull
"Bad Reputation" – Joan Jett
"Simple Man" – Lynard Skynard
"Ace of Spades ‘08″ – Motorhead
"Debaser" – Pixies
"Ladybug" – Presidents of The United States of America
"Give It All" – Rise Against
"Lazy Eye" – Silversun Pick Ups
"Cherub Rock" – Smashing Pumpkins
"Take The Money and Run" – Steve Miller Band
"We Got The Beat" – The Go Go's

Mashable got a chance to play around with Rock Band for iPhone, and they loved it:

Don't be fooled by impostors, Rock Band for iPhone is legit. It may have taken a year to build, but the mobile version matches everything you've come to love about the original, right down to the awesome graphics and the ability to hear mistakes. Of course, you're playing on your iPhone, so you'll use your fingers to tap to the rhythms of four different instruments.

The app comes with 15 songs – familiar tracks from past and present – with 5 additional songs that you can unlock as you complete the World Tour, as well as options to buy more. The game supports single-player game play, multi-player mode over Bluetooth, and Facebook Connect integration for inviting friends to play.

I'll admit, playing multiplayer Rock Band over Bluetooth on a bunch of phones sounds like a pretty kickass way to annoy the driver during a road trip. Look for this to hit the app store in the next few weeks for a yet-to-be-disclosed price, which, based on EA's other top-tier iPhone games, will probably be $10. [Mashable]

We could try to justify this post in many ways, but it would be a stretch. We can't even call BS and claim it's Photoshop. The fact is, it's just an owl in a box. And I can't look away. [Reynen's Journal via Jalopnik, BoingBoing]

PDFs are the one major roadblock to a nice intense Google search—you see that little indicator and you have to either download, get the shitty HTML view, or just walk away. So Google is fixing it. Now, when you see the Quick View tag, you get a nicely formatted PDF. Go ahead, try it. You'll like it. [Technologizer]

Someone from the Department of No Shit (actually, it was Piper Jaffray's Gene Munster, so pretty close) said that in a current study, most kids like the Apple products. It's really not surprising that most of the time, 100% of kids shopping for MP3 players want iPods, though in the fall, it seems to dip a tad, when Microsoft releases its latest Zune, and about 15% dare to be different. Also not surprising: Among the minority of kids who actually buy music, almost all of those dorks use iTunes. And to top it off, there's currently a spike in iPhone sales among teens, presumably boosted by the $99 3G option. In the next six months, nearly a quarter of teens claim they will buy an iPhone. This study is helpful for Apple bean counters, but it really says nothing at all about taste or judgment, if you think about it. [AllThingsD]

Speaking of those damn kids, they just can't get enough of this "Rock Band" either. Next thing you know, they'll be wanting it on their Apple products. Well, they just might get it, according to this shot from the otherwise mostly boring CTIA phone conference. And it just might have multiplayer mode with Bluetooth. Oh kids. I'll be in the bar. [MobileCrunch]

If you are still with us after that price revelation, you might be interested to know that the Mad Catz guitar also features fast-action ‘Shredderz' fret buttons—an exclusive addition that makes it easier to tear up solos. If that isn't enough to improve your game, the optional Electro-Harmonix Overdrive Pedal, the back tuning button, the old-fashioned tilt mechanism, and a new touch sensitive pickup are thrown in for good measure. Expect to see it on store shelves sometime in the next few weeks. [Kotaku]

They said they have three songs coming to the Rock Band store. Hard to decide what would I like to play, but I'm picking these to start with:

[Joystiq]

• If you've ever failed "Green Grass and High Tides" just because your overdrive wouldn't activate, no matter how hard you shook the controller or cursed, Madcatz has a new accessory that could put an end to your woes. The Stomp Box is modeled after an effects pedal and activates your overdrive when you, as the name would suggest, stomp on it. Coincidentally, it unleashes a wave of "I feel awesome" endorphins at the same time.

It would almost be worth grabbing one of these just so that my friends stop complaining that the guitar is broken. I would miss those moments of frantic terror, though, when someone realizes they're about to fail and starts wildly jumping up and down to save themselves during a solo.

Madcatz claims the unit features "durable, long-lasting construction," but I would have to see how it holds up during the chorus of "More Than a Feeling" before I could back that claim. Works with PS3, 360 and Wii Rock Band guitars. Now shipping for $30. [Product Page via OhGizmo!]

• Let's get the worst part out out of the way first: Madcatz's latest Rock Band Guitar costs $300. That said, let's look at what you get with the package. The guitar is built from the same stock that real Fender Stratocasters are, and includes a high-gloss sunburst finish and real metal Fender tuning pegs.

A part of the $300 dollar asking price apparently goes to licensing Microsoft's proprietary wireless controller technology, because the guitar connects to the Xbox 360 sans dongle. Even with all of these fancy features, though, you have to be a pretty serious Rock Band diehard to justify spending $300 on a controller. Shipping to stores now. [Product Page via OhGizmo!]

Baked by Mother of the Year candidate Sarah Johnson for her son's twelfth birthday, the cake sits on an authentic Rock Band drum stand. How did they have an extra stand? Her son plays so much Rock Band that he broke his first set of drums.

Attaboy! [Thanks Sqaurie!]

Taste Test is our weeklong tribute to the leaps that occur when technology meets cuisine, spanning everything from the historic breakthroughs that made food tastier and safer to the Earl-Grey-friendly replicators we impatiently await in the future.

Yep, the price for the drums exceeds the price for the game and full set of regular instruments. But these things are seriously solid for that price, feeling more like an electric drum kit you'd buy at a real music store rather than a big toy like the regular drums.

In addition, these use an RF-based signal with a USB dongle rather than Bluetooth, which cuts back on latency and offers backwards compatibility with the PS2. Look for these to hit stores later this month.

Feel the Beat: Logitech Unveils Premium Drum Controller for Guitar Hero

Logitech Wireless Drum Controller Licensed for the PLAYSTATION 3 Computer Entertainment System

FREMONT, Calif.—So you can really rock out to Guitar Hero® on the PLAYSTATION®3 (PS3) computer entertainment system, Logitech (SIX:LOGN) (NASDAQ:LOGI) today introduced the Logitech® Wireless Drum Controller for the PLAYSTATION 3 system. Licensed by Activision Publishing, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATVI), for the award-winning Guitar Hero franchise, the Wireless Drum Controller features premium drum heads with recessed rims – making it easy for you to play like a rock star.

"When you're ready to experience a new premium drum controller or expand your band, you'll want to rip on Logitech's new drum controller," said Ruben Mookerjee, Logitech's director of product marketing for gaming. "With the Wireless Drum Controller, you can mark time, keep the backbeat, color up your riffs and crash down on the cymbal pads. Joining the Logitech® Wireless Guitar Controller, the new Wireless Drum Controller lets you rock out to your favorite songs on the PS3 system."

The Logitech Wireless Drum Controller features three fully adjustable drum heads and two cymbal pads. Each piece can be positioned to fit your reach and suit your style. Offering a unique playing experience, the new Logitech Wireless Drum Controller provides quiet, responsive heads that deliver a lively feel, won't distract you from the music, and are designed to let you take advantage of all the latest features of Guitar Hero games.

But Logitech did not just replicate typical drum heads. The recessed rims help make it easier to score points and avoid accidental rim shots. The kick pedal uses a stainless steel surface and an adjustable spring – providing a highly durable, responsive drumming experience.

Delivering up to 50 hours of battery life on two AA batteries, the Wireless Drum Controller gives you enough juice to perform a concert's worth of hits, encores included.

Compatible with the PS3 system as well as the PlayStation®2 system, the Wireless Drum Controller uses a 2.4 GHz wireless USB receiver, so the connection is as steady as a drum beat. When you're ready to play, the Logitech Wireless Drum Controller sets up quickly and folds flat in seconds. You can start playing within minutes of opening the box and when the show is over, the set can be easily stowed away. (Roadies are not required.)

Pricing and Availability

The Logitech Wireless Drum Controller for the PS3 system is expected to be available in the U.S. beginning in July and Europe beginning in August for a suggested retail price of $229.99 (U.S.).

If pretending to rock is so hard that you have to pretend to pretend to rock, you should just go and eat your way up to 800 pounds and give up on life. [eBay - Thanks Ben!]

Do we want tens of plastic guitars, skateboards, drums, balance boards and light guns cluttering up our living room space? No, of course not. But ponder these simple questions.

1) Would you rather be pushing buttons in time to music with your Xbox 360 controller, or strumming along with your fake guitar and hitting a drum pad?
2) Would you rather be pushing buttons to make your character do a 720, or actually tilt your body on a skateboard?
3) Would you rather be pushing buttons and tilting a stick to shoot something on the screen, or point a gun at the screen and physically shoot the screen?

It's simple; most everyone would rather be simulating the act because it gets them closer to the experience of actually playing the game and mimicking what the character is doing on screen. And that's just the way we're headed. The first controllers had a joystick and one button, and technology's progressed along until we're actually getting 1:1 motion detection.

But where is this all going? The endpoint, in our minds, is something like the Holodeck from Star Trek. A room that, although finite in reality, has the mechanical and optical abilities to simulate just about anything you can program. But we're a long way from that. What we can do is take steps toward that goal, by simulating the experience with plastic instruments. But there are many steps between here and there, and hopefully the next one won't cause us to fall down because there's a plastic guitar in the way.

This instrument will be sold in the premium version of Rock Band, bringing rich bass sounds (and umlauts) to your very expensive virtual Beatles experience. [Kotaku]

The Price: $20

The Verdict: I like it more than the standard Rock Band (2) drum pedal, but probably not for the reasons you'd think. The Metal Pedal, for all of its hardcore skeleton styling, doesn't feel sturdier than the latest Rock Band stock pedal. Sure, it's called the Metal Pedal, but 80% or more of it is still made of plastic. The metal is in thin plating only.

But my size 12 feet appreciated the wider footbed, and the pedal's springs were looser than those you find in the Rock Band pedal—meaning it was easier to activate the bass drum which alleviated my puny shin muscles during quick passages.
Also, if you play both Rock Band and Guitar Hero, the cross-compatible hardware plugs into both drumsets and is toggled with a simple switch. I could see where using the same bass drum pedal for both games could be beneficial if you were a real score junkie.

Overall, the Nyko Metal Pedal isn't a must-buy. But if you're really into fake rocking and you find the options out there a little too stiff, it might be worth your $20.

Wide Footbed

Comfortable Resistance

It Has a Skeleton On It

Build Quality Not Noticeably Better Than Stock Pedal

[Nyko]

The resulting Speak n' Spellbinder instrument captures all of the analog randomness of a Speak 'n Spell, mapped to the frets, strum button and whammy bar of a Rock Band guitar. I wish that modder Aj Gannon really started thrashing in the below video, but we'll have to settle for a pretty complete and organized tour of the device instead. [Getlofi via MAKE]

Listening Test: It's music tech week at Gizmodo.

EMI says that audio engineers spent four years remastering the collection of albums, combining the latest sound technology with vintage studio equipment to give it an updated, but authentic sound. Each album will come with a short documentary about the respective recordings, and the expanded booklets will have new photos and liner notes included.

There's no word about modes of digital distribution yet, but keep your ears peeled—EMI says they'll discuss that later. And for those not sold on the difference between Stereo and Mono, just look at The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds as an example of similar stereo/mono recordings from that era. The difference is like night and day, kids. Night. And. Day.

THE BEATLES' ENTIRE ORIGINAL RECORDED CATALOGUE REMASTERED BY APPLE CORPS LTD. AND EMI MUSIC FOR WORLDWIDE RELEASE ON SEPTEMBER 9, 2009 (9-9-09)

London, England – April 7, 2009 – Apple Corps Ltd. and EMI Music are delighted to announce the release of the original Beatles catalogue, which has been digitally re-mastered for the first time, for worldwide CD release on Wednesday, September 9, 2009 (9-9-09), the same date as the release of the widely anticipated "The Beatles: Rock Band" video game. Each of the CDs is packaged with replicated original UK album art, including expanded booklets containing original and newly written liner notes and rare photos. For a limited period, each CD will also be embedded with a brief documentary film about the album. On the same date, two new Beatles boxed CD collections will also be released.

The albums have been re-mastered by a dedicated team of engineers at EMI's Abbey Road Studios in London over a four year period utilising state of the art recording technology alongside vintage studio equipment, carefully maintaining the authenticity and integrity of the original analogue recordings. The result of this painstaking process is the highest fidelity the catalogue has seen since its original release.

The collection comprises all 12 Beatles albums in stereo, with track listings and artwork as originally released in the UK, and 'Magical Mystery Tour,' which became part of The Beatles' core catalogue when the CDs were first released in 1987. In addition, the collections 'Past Masters Vol. I and II' are now combined as one title, for a total of 14 titles over 16 discs. This will mark the first time that the first four Beatles albums will be available in stereo in their entirety on compact disc. These 14 albums, along with a DVD collection of the documentaries, will also be available for purchase together in a stereo boxed set.

Within each CD's new packaging, booklets include detailed historical notes along with informative recording notes. With the exception of the 'Past Masters' set, newly produced mini-documentaries on the making of each album, directed by Bob Smeaton, are included as QuickTime files on each album. The documentaries contain archival footage, rare photographs and never-before-heard studio chat from The Beatles, offering a unique and very personal insight into the studio atmosphere.

A second boxed set has been created with the collector in mind. 'The Beatles in Mono' gathers together, in one place, all of the Beatles recordings that were mixed for a mono release. It will contain 10 of the albums with their original mono mixes, plus two further discs of mono masters (covering similar ground to the stereo tracks on 'Past Masters'). As an added bonus, the mono "Help!" and "Rubber Soul" discs also include the original 1965 stereo mixes, which have not been previously released on CD. These albums will be packaged in mini-vinyl CD replicas of the original sleeves with all original inserts and label designs retained.

Discussions regarding the digital distribution of the catalogue will continue. There is no further information available at this time.

Obviously—since the slide was not in the final presentation—Dan Teasdale didn't say a word about it, so we don't know. My hope that the instruments are—if not made with bricks—at least compatible with bricks. Imagine it: If their surfaces are covered with Lego-compatible studs, that would mean that any Lego and Rock Band fan would be able to customize them in any way they want using regular bricks. [Kotaku]

For about $250, designer Zivix will attempt to bridge the gap between these two warring factions by blending a real electric guitar with the button-mashing pseudo-music insanity that breaks out at my apartment after a few too many pints at the local pub. Ultimately, Zivix hopes that more than a few Guitar Hero/Rock Band masters will take the leap and actually make some real music with the Headliner.

No release date was given, but Zivix hopes to have this full size guitar on store shelves later this year. [Zivix via OhGizmo]

The bundle, which comes at $250, will include new instruments modeled after the real ones used by the band, which may or may not include that violin bass Paul used. Still, custom plastic instruments are custom plastic instruments, so we're excited. [Kotaku]

It's just a concept piece for now, but the three metalheads behind the project seem like they're intent on selling some or all of it, some day. It uses an Arduino controller to process the input from the wigs accelerometers, then outputs it to a custom game written in the Processing language.

If some sort of jeweled headband controller doesn't find it's way into the next version of Rock Band, I will be disappointed. [Headbang Hero via Kotaku - Thanks, Mike]

The AK Rock Box Gaming and Storage Ottoman is a pretty standard pleather ottoman that's big enough to house a complete band's worth of Rock Band equipment, but the really neat feature that's not so easily replicated is that an integrated drum lift can raise and lower your drums with a simple one-handed motion.

Priced around $185, the ottoman is available now from Amazon with free shipping. But you could always go the Kiss fan route and pick up an overpriced coffin airbrushed with the antic tongue of Gene Simmons instead. [Amazon via Kotaku]

Disney Star Guitarist, made with help from Washburn Guitars, uses the same style of "falling notes" that Guitar Hero and Rock Band use so well. But instead of cheap plastic buttons that mock my years of slaving over a sweaty fretboard, trying to learn some shitty Dave Mathews Band song so girls at college would sleep with me, Star Guitarist makes use of a real guitar. The special strings are included with the $200 game, and can be strung onto any standard guitar. Disney Star Guitarist, along with similar versions for keyboards and vocals, will be released for both PC and Mac this summer. [Wired]

Essentially, the M.I.C. is a nice microphone for Rock Band/Guitar Hero, but it also has all the necessary Xbox 360 buttons built in. This means you don't need to use both a mic and a controller to play. Awesome! Is it $60 worth of awesome? Eh, probably not, but if you're a seriously hardcore Rock Band singer with some extra coin to toss around, you'll probably like the functionality. Head over to Kotaku to read their full impressions. [Kotaku]

Here's the deal, we're throwing the party at a place called Shine in the SOMA district of SF. It starts at 7pm and goes 'til Midnight. Entry is free, and for the 21+ crowd only, but since it's an event for Penny Arcade's Child's Play charity, donations are looked upon favorably. You'll be able to live out your rock n roll fantasies, throw back a few (or 10) drinks, have a chance to win some prizes and be able to say you met the great Jason Chen before he became a five-time AVN Award winner.

And if you're not in SF, but happen to live in NYC or Denver, you should swing by one of the Funde Razor events there, which are hosted by Joel Johnson of Boing Boing Gadgets, and Brian Crecente of Kotaku, respectively. [Funde Razor]

Funde Razor SF
December 10, 2008
Shine
1337 Mission St
San Francisco, Ca 94103
7pm-12am, 21+

Currently, we expect unit sales to decline by more than 50 percent series-over-series for November," said EEDAR's Jesse Divnich, "This is coming off the October month where series-over-series units declined by more than 60 percent.

So going into Christmas, sales are down. It's also notable that eBay pricing on the recent Guitar Hero: World Tour has dropped below retail pricing.

Even without citing sales numbers, EEDAR is grouping Rock Band right alongside Guitar Hero as a waning fad.

Divnich does go on to explain that both Guitar Hero and Rock Band titles should retain a loyal fanbase for the next decade or so, even if they aren't the wild cultural phenomenons they once were—just as Dance Dance Revolution keeps a following despite most of us sticking our metal pads in the basement by now. [Edge via Kotaku and most righteous image]

The Nyko Metal Pedal is a durable replacement for your Rock Band or Guitar Hero drum set pedal. Whereas Rock Band 2 upgraded their pedal from plastic to metal, many have cracked their old pedals with the force of their mighty rock. (I don't know if the GHIV set uses a plastic or metal pedal—anyone in the audience have a kit?)

Regardless, at $20, the Metal Pedal beats searching eBay for a replacement should your pedal break. It will be available this January.

If Activision doesn't understand the compatibility issues regarding their own games and hardware, how are we as consumers EVER going to get it? If these guys don't figure their shit out soon, I'm so going to start a real band. [Activision via Kotaku]

Guitar Rock Tour: While it appears to be guilty of any number of IP infringements, Guitar Rock Tour brings a Guitar Hero/Rock Band-like experience to the iPhone, with playable guitar and drums set to what are surely cut-rate covers of Rock You Like a Hurricane and others of that ilk. At $10 this better be awesome, but if you need to take your simulated rocking with you everywhere, here you go.

Wall Street Skeet: No no, not that skeet. The shooting. Toss up some day-trading fatcats and hit them with water balloons while the tears spill onto the 401(k) statement you just received. $1

Mobile Files: From a few weeks back, but probably of note to Mobile Me/iDisk users—Mobile Files claims to be the only free app that can access your iDisk on the run. Files capable of being read by your iPhone (mp3s, office docs, etc) can be viewed remotely. Free

Pankaku PASY02: Cool looking synth app that generates tones based on how you manipulate an elastic-y spiderweb interface via multitouch. $1

Idle Hands: Hone your multitouch typing skills with Idle Hands (kudos for the name, guys), which not only keeps track of your performance ranks it with other users of the app around the world and allows you to enter into monthly challenges. Free.

This week's app coverage on Giz:

•The iPhone Ocarina: Link Never Would Have Allowed This

•Drug Lords For iPhone Takes Dope Wars To the Next GPS-Assisted Level

•Confirmed: 3G Tethering Coming to iPhone

•iPhone 2.2 Screenshots Show Full Podcast Interface, Polished Store App

•iPhone FakeCalls App Bails You Out of Awkward Situations

•iPhone Bug Crashes the Phone when Malicious Video is Played

•The iPhone OS 2.2 Rumor Round Up

This list is in no way definitive. If you've spotted a great app that hit the store this week, give us a heads up or, better yet, your firsthand impressions in the comments. And for even more apps: see our previous weekly roundups here, and check out our original iPhone App Review Marathon. Have a good weekend everybody.

Activision has yet to respond to the issues, but apparently their box lists using GH controllers outside of Activision properties as "expressly prohibited." Harmonix, who has traditionally supported cross-compatible instrumentation between the two franchises, has promised that "we are definitely looking into this. We'll keep you posted on updates as soon as more info is available."

It's hard to believe that this lack of compatibility was anything but intentional on Activision's part since they've had access to Rock Band 2 for months...which is a particularly large problem since many gamers are plopping down almost $200 for the Guitar Hero World Tour software and instruments.

Let's hope for some fancy software patches soon, though we're not holding our breath. [Kotaku and Joystiq]